The effective use of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation devices often depends upon how easy it is for a user of the device to be trained in its use. Classes in cardiopulmonary resuscitation often include ordinary citizens with no paramedical background as well as individuals in training for positions as paramedics. Equipment available for training ranges from those rare settings in which anatomically correct mannequins are provided to practice pulmonary resuscitation, to those settings where a mannequin's head resembles a human head and face only in that there is suggestion of facial feathers. The heads are normally formed of hard, hollow plastic. These suggested features usually include raised portions representative of a nose and forehead. Indentations may appear where eyes would be located and a small circular or oval opening is provided to simulate a mouth. More often than not the mannequin's head size more nearly matches an average adult head rather than a child or infant. Among the most popular resuscitation masks in industrial and commercial settings are those that include a physical shield between a rescuer and a victim requiring mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The shield frequently takes the form of a flexible sheet having a centrally formed opening and a rigid tube secured to the sheet around the periphery of the opening. The rigid tube is intended to fit within a victim's mouth. The tube routinely includes a one-way valve to allow breath exhaled by the rescuer to pass through the tube/one-way valve and into the mouth and lungs of the victim. The one-way valve and shield act to prevent exhaled or regurgitated matter of the victim from entering the mouth of the rescuer.
Typical of such devices is that shown and described in Eisenberg et.al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,628 ('628) issued Apr. 11, 1989, which shows and describes a device that includes a flexible sheet having an opening centrally formed therein and a rigid tube secured to the sheet around the periphery of the opening for insertion into a mouth of a victim. A self-closing one-way valve is contained in the tube and extends downward from the sheet opening.
A highly enhanced version of a resuscitation mask that also includes a flexible sheet with rigid tube located and secured into the flexible sheet in a similar fashion to the '628 patent is applicant's own double shield mouth-to-mouth resuscitator mask with a barrier for contaminated fingers, namely Baldwin U.S. Pat. No. 5,664,559 ('559) issued Sep. 9, 1997. This patent distinguishes over the '628 patent in that there is provided a second flexible barrier in the form of a thin sheet of flexible material that has an opening the periphery of which is secured to a first flexible barrier and a rigid tube containing a one-way-valve to thereby provide a spatially separated region between the first and second barriers to thereby isolate the mouth and face of the operator from the area where the operator's fingers/hands make contact on the first flexible barrier.
Another resuscitation mask of this type is shown and disclosed in applicant's co-pending patent application Ser. No. 09/128,112, filed Aug. 03, 1998, titled Resuscitation Device with Instantly Closing Valve. A unique aspect of this invention resides in the employment of a flexible sleeve integrally secured to a flexible barrier sheet. At an outlet end of the flexible sleeve, the sleeve has fashioned therein a rigid member such that the inner wall of the flexible sleeve is stretched by the rigid member to create a one-way valve against the rigid member. The flexible sleeve is stretched to open the one-way valve when air is delivered to an inlet opening of the sleeve and then to and through the sleeve and past a flexible seal of the one-way valve. Positive, instant closing is provided when air is no longer delivered to the inset opening. The invention just described provides a resuscitation device free of a valve housing, thereby allowing the device to be folded into a flat configuration to be readily carried in a billfold, thus encouraging its use by laymen.
In training situations both instructor and trainee are faced with the reality that the rigid tube that is normally inserted into a victim's mouth must now be inserted into the circular or oval mouth opening of the mannequin's head. Rarely is the mannequin mouth opening of a size that adequately accommodates the rigid tube. It is not uncommon for the attempted application of the mask to the mannequin's face to result in the rigid tube secured to the flexible barrier to buckle in the region where the tube joins the barrier. When this happens, the tube opening that is intended to engage the mannequin's mouth opening topples onto its side, making it nearly impossible for the instructor or rescuer in training to place his/her mouth on the opposite side of the barrier and over the other end of the tube.
It is not surprising to find that instructors favor less effective resuscitation masks for certain kinds of mannequins that do not have any part thereof that enter the mouth when in use.
The subject invention avoids all these problems by recognizing that the rigid tube must be secured to the flexible barrier by a means that allows the rigid tube to remain perpendicular to the flexible barrier and/or mouth region of a mannequin or victim where the victim's mouth can only be partially opened. The mask incorporating the subject invention not only provides a rigid tube covered by a sleeve portion of the flexible barrier that may engage a partially open mouth of a victim, while simultaneously converting to a mask with the rigid tube extending toward the victim's face by the simple application of a force pressing on the tube toward the face of the victim as the mask is about to be placed on a victim's face.